Racing: Fallon finally gets on Terms

It was a long and rather unaccustomed wait for the champion, but Kieren Fallon finally made the Goodwood leaderboard yesterday, on the fifth and final day of this showcase meeting atop the Sussex downs. He chose the afternoon's Group 1 feature, the Nassau Stakes, in which to get off the mark, but it was a nervy, close-run thing both in the frenzy of the finish and the aftermath.

It was a long and rather unaccustomed wait for the champion, but Kieren Fallon finally made the Goodwood leaderboard yesterday, on the fifth and final day of this showcase meeting atop the Sussex downs. He chose the afternoon's Group 1 feature, the Nassau Stakes, in which to get off the mark, but it was a nervy, close-run thing both in the frenzy of the finish and the aftermath.

Fallon drove Favourable Terms home by a short head from Silence Is Golden, with Chorist, the 6-4 favourite, just a neck away third. As Favourable Terms joined battle with Chorist, the two fillies came close together, and the winner had to survive a stewards' enquiry to keep the £116,000 first prize. And afterwards, asked if he had heard the runner-up coming fast and late on the outside of the duelling pair, the Irishman admitted: "No."

It was only by the width of her bobbing black muzzle that Favourable Terms, owned and bred by Maktoum al-Maktoum, held on, but that was good enough to give both Fallon and trainer Sir Michael Stoute their hat-tricks in the 10-furlong contest, after Islington in 2002 and Soviet Song 12 months ago. It was a record seventh success in all for Stoute, who had also scored with Triple First (1977), Optimistic Lass (1984), Kartajana (1990) and Hawajiss (1994) in the days before the race was upgraded to the top level.

Not even Stoute could pretend that Favourable Terms, a tall bay daughter of Selkirk, ranks with the best among these - Islington was nominated for that accolade yesterday - but he did defend her up-and-down record. Two runs ago the four-year-old took a Group 2 race at Ascot, then flopped behind Soviet Song in the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket; her inconsistency, though, is apparently due to her propensity to rick her back.

"She has a lot of problems in that department and it compromises her," he said. "We knew she was back to her best after her last piece of work, but even after she gallops, she has to have treatment from physiotherapists. They work on her all the time to keep her going. But she is worth it, she is a filly with a lot of talent." More top mile and 10-furlong races await Favourable Terms and Chorist, but for Silence Is Golden, her racing career is over. The five-year-old is in foal to Medicean and will now start to wind down to prepare for motherhood next spring.

Fallon, one of the favourites before play for the meeting's jockeys' title, earned a one-day ban for causing interference to Chorist. During his less than glorious week he had been beaten on some strong Stoute-trained fancies, like Peeress and Chic. "He didn't exactly shine earlier," said the trainer, rather sourly. "But I suppose he looked good on this one."

After riding High Reach into third place in the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot, Fallon bagged the gelding as his Stewards' Cup mount. He was very nearly right to do so, coming to the final furlong with the overall lead, clear of his rivals on the far side of the course. But such is the nature of cavalry charge sprints that the field inevitably splits into two packs, and at the line Pivotal Point, drawn on the stands-side rail, was a length and a quarter clear, with Fantasy Believer getting up to pip High Reach by a neck.

For once, the Cup provided a result for punters, with market leaders dominating the finish. Pivotal Point, ridden by Seb Sanders, and High Reach were the 7-1 co-favourites (with 17th-placed Pic Up Sticks), Fantasy Believer a 10-1 shot and fourth-placed Two Step Kid 9-1.

Favourable Terms may be dogged by physical vicissitudes, but for Pivotal Point it is all in the mind. The four-year-old had a phobia about starting stalls which needed an equine psychiatrist to sort out; indeed, he was sent to Peter Makin in Wiltshire because a so-called horse whisperer operates nearby. "When the horse first came to me I could see he was a great big bruiser," said Makin. "so I had him gelded. He just hated being in the stalls and used to try to knock them over to fight his way out of them."

It was the third win of the week for Sanders ("He's riding in such brilliant form that he could win if he started from Chichester harbour," added Makin) and Lisa Jones finished with a flourish by scoring in the last two races on Keep Bacckinhit, on whom she outrode Fallon and rode out her apprentice claim, and Ringsider.

But the title went to Jimmy Fortune, some consolation for his near miss on Silence Is Golden. Fortune, who rode a treble on Friday and added the very promising Fong's Thong, easy winner of the mile Listed contest, yesterday, almost gave up during the winter because of a serious back problem. "At one time I thought I might never ride again," he said. "The surgeon was marvellous, but it was frustrating at times and I just had to be patient."